Asmita Kher | HENB | Jammu | Oct 9, 2015:: Geared up BJP MLAs of J&K Assembly hit hard a communal Muslim MLA who hosted a beef party only to hurt Hindu sentiments violating the traditional ban on cow slaughter and beef in Jammu and Kashmir. Several BJP MLAs on Thursday assaulted Independent MLA Sheikh Abdul Rashid Engineer inside the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly, a day after he had hosted a beef party in Srinagar.

On Thursday morning, minutes before the House was to begin its proceedings, a group of BJP MLAs led by Ravinder Raina, legislator from Nowshera Assembly Constituency pounced on Rashid, dragged him towards the Opposition benches and started beating him. Rashid was rescued by National Conference (NC) members even as Nirmal Singh came in between the MLA and his party’s legislators.

As several NC and Congress MLAs rushed to save Rashid, after BJP MLAs had roughed up Abdul Rashid at first hand, a rescued Rashid afterwards attacked a BJP MLA as evident from the available video footage of ‘Times Now’.

The Muslim legislator from Langate had on Wednesday hosted the beef party in the lawns of the MLA hostel, with guests being served beef kebabs, ‘ristas’ (meatballs) and beef patties. All on a sudden trespassers were seen in the Assembly lawn to join the violative ‘beef party’ after stranded both the security personnel and the Hindu MLAs inside the MLA hostel premises.

Mr. Rashid had claimed that he did not want to offend anyone but wanted to send a message that “no courts or legislature can prevent the people from eating what they want.”

The step was “just to give them (legislators) a clear message that it hardly makes any difference whether you accept or reject the bill… religious matters cannot be kept subservient to courts and assembly,” the MLA had said.

“Nobody on earth, no assembly, no court and no institution can stop us from having what we want to have,” Abdul Rashid added.

But, the Hindu activists of Jammu warned to all concerned to teach proper lesson in case of any violation of existing ban of cow slaughter in J&K. Jammu and Kashmir was a tradition Hindu dynasty and Hindus were majority in the Himalayan valley where Muslims became majority afterwards.

The beef row erupted after a division bench of High Court in Jammu directed the State to strictly implement the ban as per the law.

The order had evoked strong resentment from various quarters with many separatist and religious organisations terming it as “interference in religious affairs” and sought revocation of the law, besides pressing for implementation of ban on liquor in the State.

Though issue is now before the Supreme Court, but the Congress, Communists and Islamists are trying hard to cancel all ‘prohibitory orders on cow slaughter’ and ‘beef ban’ existing in maximum parts of India validated by law of the land.